New York, New York – January 14, 2008 – MAGENSA™, a Hosted ASP providing credential authentication services and card authentication hardware devices for secure online banking and e-commerce applications, announces that its MagneSafe Secure Magstripe Readers (MSR’s) will be compatible with the latest ARTS UnifiedPOS 1.12 specification to be unveiled at the NRF Convention and Expo, January 14th – 15th at the Javits Convention Center in New York City.

MAGENSA’s MagneSafe Secure MSR devices represent the next-generation card reading technology, providing Retailers the ability to encrypt and authenticate magnetic stripe card data as it is processed at POS locations. These capabilities meet the recommendations of PCI-DSS to protect cardholder data, and can be implemented at traditional retail POS locations and e-commerce payment applications for online consumers.

The ARTS (Association for Retail Technology Standards) UnifiedPOS 1.12 specification is an open standard platform that provides POS software application developers with a standardized API for communicating with common POS hardware peripherals. ARTS has recently adopted support for a new category of magstripe card readers known as "Secure MSR’s", which includes MAGENSA’s MagneSafe Secure MSR’s.

"MAGENSA applauds the ARTS council for their leadership and vision in supporting and including Secure MSR technology at POS in their latest UPOS 1.12 specification. Secure MSR’s will provide immediate security benefits to retailers and consumers by protecting the cardholder data from the moment a card is read at the POS. This platform will provide a simplified integration path for retailers looking to upgrade their POS systems to meet the PCI-DSS guidelines", says Larry Meyers, Business Development Manager, MAGENSA, LLC. "Additionally, this specification will provide a pathway for the adoption of advanced card authentication technologies such a MagnePrint™, which can detect and prevent the use of counterfeit cards, provide multifactor authentication for secure access to online accounts, and provide "authentic card present" data for secure e-commerce payments," concluded Mr. Meyers.

MAGENSA is a licensee of MagnePrint® and MagneScore™ technologies from MagTek®, Inc. To learn more about this powerful authentication technology, please visit us at the NRF Convention and Expo at Booth #2937.